The Beginning: Zoom-Zoom
The Beginnings: Zoom-Zoom
Characters: Jazz, Zoom-Zoom, Alpha-Trion
Summary: Jazz meets Zoom-Zoom. Zoom-Zoom meets Jazz. Bickering ensues. Lots of bickering. Everything goes downhill from there.
Notes: This could be seen as a prequel to The Hermit in the Wilds. More adventures between Jazz and Zoom-Zoom are probably coming.
For more Jazz and Zoom-Zoom madness, there's Trials and Tribulations
Subspace theft was a new experience.
Especially since Jazz hadn’t even noticed the young mech that had sidled up to him. He did notice when the mech slipped a servo into his subspace…then did not take anything -a wise move as most of the items in there were liable to explode- but instead placed a cube of energon inside.
Jazz watched with bemusement as the small red mech walked off innocently, not the slightest evidence he’d just breached another mech’s subspace illegally in his gait. Then the mech did it again as he walked passed an Empty curled up at the entrance of an alleyway.
Well, that was intriguing.
A social gap had started to appear in Cybertronian society. An increasing number of mechs were unable to afford their own energon. The Cyber Ninja Corps had investigated the phenomenon to no effect; the cause remained elusive as a bunch of seemingly random factors had coincided, changes in economic prices, the Senate policies, social attitudes. It was disheartening to witness the number of desperate mechs, half-starved and desolate. It was even more disheartening to witness the increasing apathy towards these mechs.
That made Jazz’s gift an unexpected surprise and gesture of generosity.
He had found it useful to mimic the scuffled look of the Empties, as it allowed him to move around in cities without notice. It was a rare mech that bothered to pay any attention to one and an even rarer one that would share his energon with an Empty. The red mini-bot was giving away energon to just about every Empty in sight without anyone noticing, not even the Empties themselves.
That…wasn’t normal.
It was Jazz’s job to keep an optic out for mechs that were behaving a little abnormal. Just in case they weren’t mechs and turned out to be cleverly disguised Quintesson infiltration drones. They were slowly improving over the vorns and the Corps had come to the unwelcome discovery they could now project fake spark signals. Thankfully, the signals were weak and irregular and were very easy to notice; often the drones were turned in to the medics by concerned citizens, leading to their discovery. But it was not too outrageous to think that one orn, they would be perfected and the drones would be able to seamlessly blend into society.
Admittedly, charity and empathy had never been a strong point of the Quintessons. If this was a plot, it would be the weirdest one he’d seen yet.
With the skills he’d mastered as a cyber-ninja and the plainness of his frame, he was near invisible in the crowd. He tailed the red mini-bot through the backstreets of Iacon, watching as the mech delivered his gifts. He was quite skilled, Jazz had to admire the impressive sleight of hand, that no one, not even the street-wise Empties had detected his activities. Jazz closed in on the mech, until he was close enough that he could catch the mech’s spark signature, which pulsed as strongly as Jazz’s own.
That crossed out one possibility. It would take him a matter of moments to hack the city’s records and find out every detail of the young mech’s life. Jazz resisted the urge; he would make his own impressions.
As the mini-bot walked past an open alleyway, Jazz carefully slid past the mech. The mini-bot paid him no heed…until Jazz grabbed a servo and slung him into the empty passage.
“What the-?” the mech immediately fell into a defensive posture and backed up. Good instincts, Jazz noted in approval. “What do you want?” the mini-bot demanded.
“Nuthin,” Jazz said carelessly, leaning across the alleyway’s entrance. His presence was intimidating enough that the mech did not immediately attempt to brush past him and escape. “Just wanted to say, not many mechs would know how to access another’s subspace,” he twirled the energon cube in emphasis.
The mini-bot eyed the cube and scowled at him. “I have no idea what you are on about.”
“S’okay,” Jazz assured, “Didn’t mean to imply a thing, if that’s what you are worried about. Just wanted to say thank you.”
“Most mechs wouldn’t have pulled me into an empty alleyway to express gratitude,” the mech said suspiciously. “Unless…you are intending to proposition me.”
Jazz’s vocaliser actually stalled at this. That…wasn’t part of the script. “Please,” he scoffed, “Can’t a mech say thank you without having dubious intentions?”
The other mech seemed to be convinced that he was not in any sort of danger and relaxed slightly. “Something tells me that your intentions are less than honourable,” he said snidely. Then he sighed. “Look, I’ll give you another cube and then I’ll be…”
The mech trailed off as he came to a realisation. “Like I said,” Jazz twirled the mech’s supply of energon cubes in his servos, “Accessing another mech’s subspace isn’t exactly a common skill.”
The mini-bot gave an outraged cry. “How dare you! Give that back, thief!”
“Sure thing,” Jazz said pleasantly and casually tossed them back.
The mech scrambled to collect his cubes, surprised that Jazz had given into his demand so easily. “What exactly do you want from me?” he demanded defensively.
“I’m curious,” the silver ninjabot said easily. “A young mech like yourself, sneaking about, giving gifts of energon to Empties. There’s got be an interesting story in there. So, spill.”
“What if I just have a spark?” the mech sneered. “It could be as simple as that.”
“Could be,” Jazz agreed, “But that doesn’t explain why you know how to slip your servos into someone else’s subspace. There are charities that you could donate to, instead of this sneaky, underhanded thing you’ve got going on.”
The mini-bot’s faceplates tightened but he did not bring himself to reply. “Unless,” Jazz drawled thoughtfully, “It isn’t your energon you’ve been handing out.”
“It wasn’t like it was being used,” the mech muttered bitterly.
Jazz’s visor brightened. “Oh yeah? So you figured you could do some good by sharing it around. I can respect the conviction it takes to do that.”
“Great,” the mech sighed. “That’s wonderful to hear. Can I go now?”
“Got a few more questions to ask,” the cyber ninja replied.
“What if I have nothing more to say?” the mini-bot challenged, suddenly bold as something occurred to him.
“Well, I guess I’ll have to report you to the enforcers,” Jazz answered. Not that he truly intended to, if his instincts were right about the mech. “You’re stealing someone else’s energon after all.”
“Oh yeah? Think they’ll believe you? You’re an Empty after all.” And now the mech looked bitter. “I’m trying to help people like you and this is what I get?”
Jazz gave the mech a cold smile. “First off, I’m a cyber-ninja,” he said, pushing himself off the wall. “You’ll find that the enforcers tend to pay attention to what we say. Secondly, I’m all for helping the Empties-but not through illegal acquisition of energon. So tell me, where did you get it from?”
“A cyber-ninja?” the red mini-bot scoffed. “You must think I’m stupid. I’m not telling you anything.”
The mini-bot made to push past him but Jazz swiftly pushed him back and pinned him to the ground. It wasn’t easy, the mech twisted and squirmed like he was coated with grease and more than several times, Jazz almost lost his grasp.
“Last chance,” the silver mech warned, “Tell me or we’ll be making a trip to the enforcer’s station.”
“Alright, alright!” the mini-bot went still. “If I tell you will you let me go?”
Jazz slid backwards and blocked the entrance of the alleyway. “Talk,” he ordered curtly.
“I’m…I’m apprenticed to one of the high tier programmers. He has a large energon allotment, most of which doesn’t get used. I figured I might as well put it to good use.”
“A high tier programmer?” Jazz asked curiously. “Which one?”
“Alpha Trion,” the mech answered miserably.
Jazz’s optics widened in surprise. “A3? Really? Didn’t know he had an apprentice.”
The mini-bot’s faceplates tightened unhappily. “Most mechs don’t. Things…aren’t going so well.”
“…right,” the ninjabot answered distractedly. This…changed things. He opened a comm line. -A3? Got something that claims to be yours.-
-Jazz? What a surprise to hear your voice in Iacon,- the ancient mech answered with delight. -What have you found?-
-Something young, red and got a bit of an attitude problem.-
-Ah, I see you’ve met Zoom-Zoom. Where are you?-
-In the back alleys of lower Iacon.-
-Has he been giving out energon to the empties again?-
Jazz frowned as he glanced back at the mini-bot. -Yeah. I was under the impression you didn’t know about it.-
-I’m old but not stupid like Zoom-Zoom seems to believe,- Alpha Trion replied with amusement.
-Since when did you have an apprentice anyway?-
The master programmer sighed. -I thought…it would be a good idea to have someone to pass my knowledge on and asked Prime to have a mech brought online. However, Zoom-Zoom is something of a trying student; he does not mesh well with my methods of teaching and lacks the patience to properly absorb what I’m trying to impart to him.”
-He’s a young mech. Patience isn’t exactly a strong point for sparks that age. Besides, it isn’t like you haven’t got the time to make sure things sink through.-
-Mmmh. If only time was our problem. Our personalities clash greatly and Zoom-Zoom finds himself rather disappointed at his lack of progress. He feels that there is much pressure on him because of who I am.-
The mini-bot was beginning to get nervous. “Who are you talking to?” he demanded. “You promised you wouldn’t call the enforcers.”
“I know, I know,” Jazz waved a hand dismissively. “I’m talking to your master.”
“WHAT?”
-Well, that’s a pity,- the cyber-ninja drawled to Alpha Trion, ignoring Zoom-Zoom’s distress.
“Why are you talking to him? What are you telling him? Don’t tell him anything!”
-I know that tone Jazz. You are plotting something.-
-Was just thinking, the mech’s got good combat instincts. He would make a fine cyber-ninja.-
Alpha Trion fell silent at this. Jazz returned his attention to the increasingly antsy mini-bot. “Relax, I’m just asking if I can steal you.”
“STEAL ME? WHAT? NO!”
“Shut up, young spark, I’m doing you a favour.”
“Young SPARK?” Zoom-Zoom spluttered indignantly, sufficiently distracted by this that he forgot about panicking. “Who the slag are you calling-oh wait,” he peered suspiciously at Jazz. “Just how old are you anyway?”
“Er…” Jazz hesitated, uncertain how to answer that question. Ordinarily he would not feel the slightest remorse to lie about his age but if he truly intended to take the mech on as an apprentice, he wanted to establish an honest rapport with him. “A bit older than you.”
That did not mean he wasn’t above embellishing certain facts. Just a little.
Zoom-Zoom smirked wickedly. “You are lying,” he asserted confidently. “Master Trion does exactly that same thing when I ask him about his age. How much is this ‘bit?’”
Jazz glared at the mech but acquiesced, “Quite a lot, actually, if you must know.”
“You are at least triple my age, right?”
“I refuse to answer any more questions,” Jazz replied with great dignity.
“You are oooooold,” Zoom-Zoom crowed triumphantly.
“I fail to see how my age has to do with anything,” the cyber-ninja responded. He was actually beginning to wonder if this was a bad idea after all. "Or why you are so obsessed with it."
“Of course you would think that,” the mini-biot replied with sagely benevolence. “It’s the only way you can get through the orn without realising how out-dated you are.”
Jazz narrowed his optics at the mech. “You really need to get those respect sub-routines checked up. Fortunately, I’m an excellent coder.”
“Pffft, you are talking to a mech who was been trained by Master Trion himself,” Zoom-Zoom said dismissively.
-Jazz,- Alpha Trion spoke up finally. -I am grateful that you’ve expressed at interesting in teaching Zoom-Zoom. However…given what I know of your previous experiences, I find myself somewhat hesitant to turn him over into your care.-
The ninjabot did not take offense to this. Pit if it had been someone else who had been in his situation and was now looking to mentor a mech he cared for, he would have the same reserves as A3 did.
-I’m glad to hear that you do, actually. I’ll do my best for him, Trion. And I’ll bring him back to you regularly so that you can keep an optic on him. I think that I won’t lead him down a wrong path but…well, one can never be certain in life,- he replied honestly.
He felt the master programmer give a pulse of gratitude. -Thank you Jazz. I feel…I feel that Zoom-Zoom will do well under your guidance. Just…how regularly would you intend to bring him back?-
Jazz frowned and that nagging sense that he was making a big mistake increased. -Are you planning to be conveniently unavailable whenever I’m in Iacon? Surely the mech isn’t that bad!-
-I think you’ll find that Zoom-Zoom is a mech to be experienced many times…with as long a gap between each encounter as you can possibly make. He is rather…overwhelming.-
-Remind me to never do you a favour ever again.-
-You haven’t done me a favour yet. While I have no objections to turning Zoom-Zoom over to you, he must make the choice himself.-
-Of course, A3.-
-Good luck with that. He’s a difficult one to impress,- Alpha Trion replied before signing of the comm line.
Jazz returned his attention to the mini-bot. “Come with me,” he said abruptly.
“What? No.” Zoom-Zoom instantly refused with a hard glare. “You haven’t exactly been the nicest company. You stole my cubes, threatened to call the enforcers, then you assaulted me.”
“Yeah, well you could have answered my questions straight away and we wouldn’t have had any problems at all.”
Zoom-Zoom glared at him and Jazz glared right back. Eventually, the mini-bot crumbled under his gaze. “Where exactly do you want to take me?”
“Not too far from here, actually. A back-alley you passed two streets away.”
“No thanks, so far I’ve had bad experiences involving you, dark alleyways and myself.”
Jazz gave a long and slow exvent. “I have something very interesting to show you.”
Zoom-Zoom gave him a very dubious look. “Are you prepositioning me again?”
Jazz briefly thought longingly of banging his head against the wall. Hard. Then he redirected his attention away from such self-destructive processing. “I’m going to say this once,” he said with a tone of great importance. He was going to be calm and mature about this.
“Oh, sure. Go ahead. I’m sure that this will be fascinating. Lay it on me, old mech.”
“I. HATE. YOU.” Jazz informed the mech. Slag maturity.
Zoom-Zoom was unfazed by this declaration. “The feeling is entirely mutual, I assure you,” he returned.
“Listen half-bit, you want to see something amazing or not?” Jazz demanded irritably.
“I don’t trust your definition of amazing. It is probably something very, very boring. The sort of thing the elderly find absolutely fascinating.”
“Wanna bet?” Jazz challenged instantly.
Zoom-Zoom gave a doubtful snort. “You wouldn’t know what qualified as interesting if it struck you in the faceplates.”
“Really?”
“Yup.”
Jazz gave a victorious grin. “Come on then, I’ll show this thing. If it amazes you, you’ll shut up for an astrosecond so I can tell you something even more interesting. If not, I’ll let you go on your merry way back to giving energon out to the Empties and then back to Trion.”
The mini-bot gazed at him suspiciously. “You’ll let me go at last?”
“Yup.”
“Fine.”
Jazz took a step out of their alleyway and waited for the brooding and thoroughly unhappy mini-bot to join him. The mech remained a step behind him as they traversed the streets of Iacon, not too far away that Jazz couldn’t grab him if he so much as thought about bolting. True to Jazz’s word, he didn’t lead them far away.
The new street was empty of mechs and completely devoid of life, the shops here having closed down. It was a dead end and a cleaning drone was scuttling along at the far end of the passage, both mechs paid it no heed.
Jazz stopped at the entrance and leant against the wall. Zoom-Zoom took a step in, optics sweeping over the alleyway and then returned to the cyber-ninja thoroughly confused.
“I knew you were old and senile but now I have proof,” he said flatly.
“You aren’t looking close enough,” Jazz replied. “You sure you can’t see it?”
Zoom-Zoom turned his attention back to the street. It remained unchanged. “You sure you don’t need to see a medic to have your processor examined? Because there is nothing here.”
Jazz frowned at the mini-bot. “You aren’t even trying.”
“I don’t know what you want me to see!” Zoom-Zoom replied in frustration. He turned around to push pass Jazz and then froze.
The ninjabot had unsheathed a pair of energon daggers.
“What-what do you think you are doing?” he said fearfully, backing away. He instantly reached to find a comm frequency to call for help and realised he was being blocked. “Please, please don’t-”
“Brat,” Jazz sighed in exasperation. “Shut up. I’m not going to kill you. You watch too many holovids.”
“You’ve blocked my comm frequencies, we’re in a dark alleyway and you have, oh wait. A PAIR OF ENERGON DAGGERS. Sure, you’re not going to kill me-”
Zoom-Zoom shrieked and threw himself aside when Jazz took a step forward. A scowl briefly flitted across the silver cyber-ninja’s faceplates before he threw a dagger. It flew through the air swiftly, easily striking its target.
Zoom-Zoom blinked dumbly. “What did the cleaning drone do to you?” he asked from where he was sprawled against the wall.
“You are still not looking closely enough,” Jazz sighed. He waved a hand at the mini-bot. “Go check out the drone and tell me if you still can’t see it.”
The mini-bot backed away suspiciously. It didn’t seem like a very bright idea to go deeper inside the alleyway when it was being guarded by a maniacal ninjabot with a dagger…but then again it didn’t seem like a good idea to go against the wishes of the mech with a dagger. At least checking out the drone would give him access to a weapon of his own.
Jazz’s dagger had somehow managed to strike the drone in the exact spot of its motor control, disabling its ability to move. Other than that, it was completely undamaged. It was still sending pings out, requesting information for where it should go next and informing other drones that they did not need to do this quadrant. Except Jazz was dampening the signals in this area.
And…
Wait.
Zoom-Zoom’s optics flickered in surprise.
“Its codes are all wrong,” he blurted, turning to stare at Jazz. “I’ve never seen anything like this, the programming language it’s using is completely foreign. What…what is it?”
Jazz’s visor dimmed at him as he leant across the alleyway. “Quintesson infiltration drone,” he answered. “I would be rather surprised if you recognised the language, it’s a little before your time,” Jazz gave a dark smirk.
Zoom-Zoom dropped the drone like it was corrosive and scuttled back up the passage. He stopped and stared at Jazz with wide optics, as if seeing him in a new light. “You…you really are a cyber-ninja,” he gasped.
“That I am,” Jazz agreed casually, striding down to the drone to retrieve his weapon, “Genuine anti-Quintesson infiltration operative, right here.”
“Wow,” Zoom-Zoom was openly gaping in admiration. As soon as he realised this, he quickly recovered his composure. “You…you said there was something more interesting you’d tell me.”
“Sure thing,” Jazz replied cheerfully. “You don’t exactly sound happy with A3. I spoke to him, noticed that you’ve good instincts, ones that would serve you well if you chose to train as a cyber-ninja. A3 said the decision would be yours.”
The mini-bot stumbled in shock and somehow his optics got even wider. “You’d train me as a cyber-ninja?” he squeaked.
“Yup.”
“Just like that?”
“Yup.”
“Why?”
Jazz gave an easy shrug. “Didn’t even notice you when you snuck up on me. I did notice when you snuck your servos into my subspace though. But it’s been a very long time since anyone’s gotten that close without me knowing. Seems a waste of potential if you don’t want to learn what A3 has to offer. I’ve dropped the signal damper now; have a talk with your master about it.”
Zoom-Zoom looked away and Jazz gave him time to think over this. It was no easy thing, to leave a functioning that one had been comfortable with his entire life. Not to mention that the life of a cyber-ninja was completely apart from the rest of Cybertronian society. There was little stability and a lot of it spent in isolation, watching fellow Cybertronians carefully in case one of them turned out to be a Quintesson deception
But something told him that Zoom-Zoom could do it, would be good at it.
Finally, the mech looked up. “I want…I want to do it,” he said firmly.
“Awesome,” Jazz cheered. “Alright, first order of business. My name’s Jazz,” he tilted his helm politely and held out a servo. “If you so wish, you may call me master but I’m not too fussed if you don’t.”
“Zoom-Zoom,” the mini-bot replied, shaking the offered servo. He smirked at the older mech. “Of course, I’ll call you master. It is only befitting that I show my respect to those older than me.”
“….right.” Jazz reminded himself firmly that pitching his new apprentice helm first into a wall was not an option. Not matter how much he wanted it to be. “First things first, brat. I need to know if you have any moves.”
“Moves?” Zoom-Zoom frowned at him. “What sort of moves are we talking about here?” he asked suspiciously. “I have no martial arts training.”
“Dance moves,” Jazz said, tone somewhat scandalously offended, “This is a very important and vital question. Seriously.”
“It is not!” Zoom-Zoom retorted. “And if you try to show me whatever counts as dancing in your orn, I suspect I may go blind from the sheer horror.”
“No way am I teaching you to be a cyber-ninja if you don’t even know how to dance.”
“That-that’s ridiculous!”
“Those are the rules.”
“They are stupid rules. Master, I sincerely implore you to get that processor scan I recommended.”
“Shut it, half-bit and come on. Your training awaits.”
“You mean my torture. I did not sign up for this.”
“Uh huh. You totally did. Just ask A3. Dance is very important for a cyber-ninja. A lot of it can be applied to martial arts training.”
“That is such slag.”
“It is not. Now come on, it just so happens that we have a Quintesson drone with us. We can start your cross language training immediately.”
“Really?”
“Yup. Get to it, brat.”
As Zoom-Zoom crouched down by the drone, Jazz felt like there had been tension in his frame that he had never noticed and now it had suddenly been removed. It had been quite a long time since he’d felt so refreshed and alive.
Events were moving again. The future would be…interesting.
END
A/N: Canonically/or so TF wiki tells me, Jazz teaches Zoom-Zoom to dance. My headspace character, who has been highjacked completely by my plot, informs me that there is no slagging way that will happen. In fact, Zoom-Zoom was just meant to be a very minor character...then he started arguing with Jazz every other moment and kicked up a huge fuss and gave me so much plot.
I have so many other characters to get through :(
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